Recovery Fund: 24 million euro for projects in Culture for protection from the climate crisis

Projects worth 24,000,000 euros, funded by the Recovery Fund, are being prepared by the Ministry of Culture and Sports for major archeological sites.

The program of the Ministry of Culture and Sports includes fire protection projects at the archeological sites of Philippi and Mystras, flood protection projects in Malia and Dion, projects to deal with rock falls in Delphi.

According to a relevant announcement, within the framework of the same program, the drafting of the national strategy for the adaptation of the protection of cultural heritage to the effects of climate change is in progress, as well as the creation of systems for recording and monitoring the impact of climate change on microenvironmental conditions. to preserve the surface of the materials of the monuments.

“Prevention and monitoring”

As the Minister of Culture and Sports Lina Mendoni stated, “more and more often we all see the consequences of the climate crisis with the appearance of frequent and intense weather phenomena. The Ministry of Culture and Sports has given special emphasis to the effects of the climate crisis on cultural goods, having set up since October 2019 a multidisciplinary committee, which systematically studies the issue, but also has proceeded to studies and maturation of works on monuments and archeological sites. To date, no significant dangers are recorded for the monuments of our cultural heritage. However, the prevention, systematic monitoring and shielding of the cultural stock from the climate crisis is a priority. The inclusion of all the projects proposed by the Ministry of Culture for funding from the Fund for Recovery and Resilience, strengthens our effort to address the problem of climate crisis, which is directly related to the development dimension of culture, as well as the areas that are included, are important poles of culture and tourism for local communities. The action plan of the Ministry of Culture, is in full agreement with the National Action Plan as well as with the European policies with the aim of a comprehensive confrontation of the problem that concerns the whole world, more and more intensely “.

Projects

In detail, the integrated projects are:

1. Firefighting of the Archaeological Site of Philippi

2. Firefighting of the Archaeological Site of Mystras

Total budget: 7,200,000 euros

Each project includes the installation of a modern firefighting system at the archeological site, as well as the support actions required. The Archaeological Site of Philippi, as well as the Archaeological Site of Mystras are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

3. Measures to deal with rainfall in Delphi (budget 10,000,000)

The problem of massive rainfall on the east side of the Delphi Archaeological Site – east of the Ancient Theater and especially in the area around the source of Castalia – has been known since ancient times and is very serious, as it poses dangers for visitors. ensuring and protecting the monuments of their surroundings and infrastructure projects (roads, etc.).

4. Flood protection works in Dion (budget 2,250,000 euros)

The project aims to prevent and address the dangers caused by frequent floods in the area of ​​the archaeological site of Dion Pieria. This area is affected at regular intervals by severe weather events, which are repeated in the area about every five years and show greater intensity every twenty years. The project includes the cleaning of the bed of the stream of Orlia and the river Vafyra, as well as the execution of rescue archeological works.

5. Flood protection works in the Minoan Palace of Malia, Crete (budget 3,360,000 euros)

The visitable archeological site of Malia includes the Minoan Palace and the excavated parts of the ancient city that surround it. Extreme weather events began to be observed from 2019, when the intense floods that hit the island, led to landslides and disasters. The project includes the construction of an extensive drainage network and the replacement of the hail-damaged polycarbonate roofing sheets with new high-strength roofing.

6. Preparation of a draft National Strategy for the adaptation of the protection of cultural heritage monuments to the effects of climate change (budget 2,000,000 euros)

This includes impact recognition and documentation actions of climate change in cultural heritage and elaboration of a National Strategy plan with the collection and recording of existing data and information by co-competent -apart from Ministry of Culture- Services. Based on the data of the above recording, an online platform is created, which is utilized for the elaboration of vulnerability maps and for the determination of climatic indicators per geographical area of ​​the Greek Territory at the level of Regional Unit and per category of climatic risk or combination of them (extreme weather phenomena, floods, drought – desertification – erosion, forest fires, heat waves, rising sea levels and flooding of coastal zones). Also, a complete digital repository is created for the storage and easy combined retrieval of the above information. At the same time, a study is being prepared on how to monitor and mitigate the risks associated with climate change and its affect on monuments.

7. Systems for recording and monitoring the impact of climate change on the microenvironmental conditions for the preservation of the surface of the materials of the monuments (budget 1,500,000 euros)

The project includes the development of an innovative interoperable wireless network system of heterogeneous sensors in monuments and archeological sites throughout Greece, as well as the information control center from the collection of 30 workstations in an equal number of monuments and archaeological sites, combined with the development of mobile unit response. It is also foreseen the analysis and processing of climatic data and the creation of a climatic profile of the monuments with an assessment of the local climatic risks based on the above records.